Director General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated that he was inside an airport in a major city Yemen when Israeli forces launched a deadly strike on the facility.
On Friday, the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency reported that rebel forces had targeted Israel's Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. The Israel Defense Forces and a spokesman for the airport said they were not aware of the incident.
Israel Attacks on several targets in Yemen on Thursday, including Sanaa International Airport, marked a major escalation in the escalating conflict backed by Iran. Houthi rebel forces there and how it ended the year trapped in a a multi-front war throughout the Middle East.
Israeli forces launched the attack on Sanaa International Airport amid an escalating exchange of fire with the Houthis, with the Israeli military including a missile launched from Yemen on Wednesday injured several people. The Magen David Adom ambulance service said they received reports of nine people injured, according to Reuters.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Ghebreyesus said he and other WHO colleagues were preparing to board a flight just “meters” away from the area hit by Israel. “My UN and WHO colleagues are safe,” Ghebreyesus said in a statement published on X. He was in the country to negotiate the release of United Nations workers held there and to assess Yemen's humanitarian crisis.
“The air traffic control tower, the exit lounge – just a few meters from where we were – and the runway were damaged,” he said, adding that he and his team had to wait until the port – to repair air before leaving Yemen.
It was unclear whether they were able to leave Sanaa early Friday.
Dr. Anees Alasbahi, a spokesperson for the Houthis' Ministry of Health in Sanaa, said in a statement that at least three people were killed and at least 13 others were wounded as a result of the strike. The World Food Program said a WFP contracted air crew member was among those injured in the strike and was receiving medical treatment.
“Humanities are #NotATarget,” the group said in a statement published on X Thursday while noting the urgent work of humanitarian organizations working in Yemen, including preventing famine in a country gripped by an ongoing civil war since 2014.
The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strike, including whether it was aware that a WHO delegation was present at the airport when it carried out the strike.
Israeli officials hailed the attack as a demonstration of the country's ability to “reach and strike any threat” to Israelis, with the strike following a recent increase in Houthi attacks on Israel.
“Over the years, we have developed capabilities to strike very far from Israeli territory – precisely, powerfully and repeatedly,” IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi said in the statement published online.
The damaged control tower at Sanaa International Airport on Friday.
The Houthis – a rebel movement that controls much of Yemen and is backed by Iran – have vowed to continue their attacks on Israel and commercial shipping in the Red Sea until the war in Gaza ends. The IDF reported late Thursday that at least one missile launched from Yemen was intercepted “before it entered Israeli territory.” “
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the violence in a statement released on Thursday, warning that he was “deeply concerned about the risk of further escalation in the region.”
Noting that a high-level UN delegation had been inside Sanaa airport at the time of the strike, he called on “all parties to cease military actions and the exercise maximum control.”
“International law must be respected,” he said.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
